LONDON (Reuters) - Kemi Badenoch won a race to become the new leader of Britain's Conservative Party on Saturday, vowing to return the once dominant party to its founding principles to try to win back voters who handed the Conservatives their worst election defeat in July.

A self-proclaimed straight speaker, Badenoch won the majority of votes among party members, the final stage in a months-long contest that saw a field of six whittled down to two. Robert Jenrick, a former immigration minister, came second.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, editing by Sarah Young)